The 2023 Backlog Challenge

[Sumez | 2,995]

That's a funny observation IMO considering the reason I liked Fallen Order, is due to how much it doesn't feel like the typical modern video game tendencies, and specifically how much it's not an Uncharted game, etc.

I thought it was a really nice trip back to the way you'd expect most 3D action adventure games to be in the GameCube era, something I didn't exactly imagine myself feeling nostalgic for - but a nice return regardless.

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

4 hours ago, Sumez said:

That's a funny observation IMO considering the reason I liked Fallen Order, is due to how much it doesn't feel like the typical modern video game tendencies, and specifically how much it's not an Uncharted game, etc.

I thought it was a really nice trip back to the way you'd expect most 3D action adventure games to be in the GameCube era, something I didn't exactly imagine myself feeling nostalgic for - but a nice return regardless.

 

Let me fix that:

Star Wars: Soulscharted Raider of PersiaVania 

Either way, it's a good game.  And my boys are loving the Star Wars-ness of it

[Webhead123 | 687]

16 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

@Webhead123 It's definitely a modern PlayStation game to a tee:

Star Wars: Soulscharted Raider of Persia!

That's probably it. It felt a bit like "Star Wars: The Side Quest-ening". I dunno, maybe I just liked it better the way it was done in The Force Unleashed (which wasn't a perfect game either but managed to compensate with its level of chutzpah and some nice set pieces).

I'll return to it for sure. Not a bad game...I guess I was just expecting to be more thrilled for a new Star Wars adventure than it made me feel in the opening hours. It also had the unenviable fate of following pretty closely on the heels of Sony's Spider-Man...which was probably the most fun I've had in an open-world game other than BotW in the past 6-8 years.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Webhead123

[Gloves | 11,845]

Started up Ocarina of Time. Let's see if I can make it through the whole game for once. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

9 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Started up Ocarina of Time. Let's see if I can make it through the whole game for once. 

Wait, what?  Mind being blown.

[Gloves | 11,845]

14 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Wait, what?  Mind being blown.

Lol I've beaten it once before, but replaying it I always stop around the Forest or Fire Temple as Adult Link. I just get bored or distracted, and Majora's Mask is the much better game. 

[Foochie776 | 1,062]

Beat Pikmin! My write up is in the picture because I’d posted in the ‘22 thread first ‍

 

Im 99% of the way through Super Mario Land 2, so that will likely be next before I get back to KH II. If anyone is a Kingdom Hearts expert, I need some advice

[nrslam | 477]

Hooray! Another Pikmin fan. We're you playing this on Cube or Wii? I prefer the new-play-control version on Wii, myself. Now go play Pikmin 2.

[Foochie776 | 1,062]

On 3/19/2023 at 10:11 PM, nrslam said:

Hooray! Another Pikmin fan. We're you playing this on Cube or Wii? I prefer the new-play-control version on Wii, myself. Now go play Pikmin 2.

GameCube! I’ve got 2 in my eBay cart currently.

[Floating Platforms | 742]

On 3/18/2023 at 2:05 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Super Mario 3D World - We beat the main game, but the bonus world has been a bit too hard for my boys.

The bonus world was a bit too hard for me, too. I never beat the Championship Road (or whatever it's called in this version) or the last toad house with the 15+ rooms you have to do in a row without failing. Sharp difficulty incline on that last world.

[FireHazard51 | 2,053]

Finally, I can scratch out Horizon Forbidden West off my list.  Any more open worlds are intimidating because of my need to do all the tasks.  In this game I resorted to not do any of combat trials and the one board game thing.  I'll save that for the New Game+.  Overall I LOVED the game.  I love how there are more characters involved in the story and more background stories of the world that was prior to Zero Dawn and also the other tribes that live in the post Zero Dawn event.  I love the "hidden" references to prior game/DLC but was disappointed when some of my more memorable side characters didn't show up.  Some I believed are referenced in the game through indirect references.  But overall it was a good nod to the past game/characters.  

As for this game's plot twist.  Fuck me I didn't see any of them.  Game had me nervous in how they are going to continue the story and it wasn't till the last 15 mins of the game that they revealed a new plot and clearly sets up the 3rd game in the series.  9.5/10  Top tier for sure but not sure if it's the tippy top. 

Not sure what PS5 is tracking but my game save file was 128 hours.  I often pressed the PS button and left the console alone.  I didn't think the game was tracking those hours in that state as in-game hours.  PS5 may of excluded that time so 64 hours was my time with like 93% of the trophies.  I bet I can get platinum in less than 5 hours.  Looks like they don't include the Name Game+ trophies as part of the platinum requirement (I like that!).   

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Deus Ex

[Floating Platforms | 742]

The Unfinished Swan is... finished.

I feel like I'm behind schedule and was on vacation for a week, so I wanted to knock out a quick one.  I played it on PS4 but I know it was on PS3 era originally.  It's a short experience and it goes a little bit beyond the initial concept of a totally white world that you fill with ink pellets in order to navigate through the areas. Sometimes you have water pellets which will force you to tediously grow vines for climbing and in one section, you create 3D boxes to climb. Honestly, I'd rather see the ink mechanic expanded upon or to use the water to clean the path instead of grow it. The visuals of the black objects against white is still quite striking and fascinating and that sense of wonder gets lost later on.

None of the sections are hard by any stretch of the imagination, it feels like a fun proof of concept for gameplay that likely wasn't possible prior to PS3.  The story didn't really grab me all that much, but it was far from terrible. It's told like a children's fable but has some deeper context.  Nothing super, super deep, mind you.

I'm ready to move on to the next game and making progress on a couple. Castlevania Portrait of Ruin has the Jonathan path done, the Sisters are almost done and the Richter path just needs some level grinding to take on the final boss.  Lego City Undercover story is done, but I'm only about 50% done with all the stuff to collect/do.

[Gloves | 11,845]

I beat Darkwing Duck today. Last night before bed I needed something I could play quick for like 15-20 minutes to wind down before sleep and tossed this in, ended up enjoying it but only played the first two levels. Today I decided to clear it, and did so. Enjoyable overall, not particularly difficult. The arrow gun demolishes all of the bosses so they were mostly pushovers. Fun game though.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Hmm, part of me was considering putting Everblue 2 at the bottom of the list, as a lowest priority this year.  But I went ahead and booted it up today, and ended up playing it for 2 straight hours.  I'm such a sucker for ocean games.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Everblue 2

I had fun with it.  I'm a sucker for salvaging underwater treasure.  Definitely some tedium with trying to find landmarks in the open ocean, or using sonar, or get ng a few key items.  But warts aside it was a good time.

[Floating Platforms | 742]

Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose

Maybe another day I'll do that hard mode run they're asking for.

I had been working on a revisit of Chessmaster for my Game Boy challenge to beat that on the medium difficulty. After about a dozen hours, I realized I do not have the skills for that yet, so that's going back into the revisit pile and yesterday I decided to take a break with some SNES games.

When I bought my SNES about 5 years ago, I waited until I found a lot on ebay that included this game. It's one I played a bunch at my friends' house, always had a good time with, but never beat it. It may not be a great game, but I still thoroughly enjoy it. The levels have a nice variety in settings and boss encounters. Some parts are pretty frustrating and trolling, but having some continues helped a ton. The mini games in between levels where you can earn extra lives were my favorite part. Back then I don't think we ever got past the football stage. Now with adult motor skills it was annoying (and basically entirely luck based) but doable.  The biggest knock against the game is that the writing and story is really lacking and while some characters appear in the cutscenes, it doesn't feel like a great representation of the Tiny Toons show.

After that I played more Link to the Past, got to the boss of the 7th dungeon and basically hit a wall. After trying several times, I was told that my L2 sword wasn't going to cut it unless I stock up on magic refills.  Blah. I've played this so sporadically that I have no clue where anything is so I'll probably look up where to go to get a better sword. I'm also missing a possible 4th bottle. At least I have both rods needed for the boss as it sounds like that's a problem for some people.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Sword hints:

Smithy

Pool of water

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

The Witcher 3 is complete! Finally finished my first game of the year. This has been in the backlog since release (2015!) so it feels great to knock it off the list. It's an absolutely masterclass in open world design and I loved nearly every minute of it. The story and world are just fantastic and the game as a whole is a huge step up from the first two games. I still think combat is on the weak side although I do appreciate that there is some strategy to how you approach different enemy types. Overall, it's a 9/10 game for me and one of the best open world games I've ever played. I'll continue on with the DLC at a more leisurely pace. I've heard it is as good, or possibly better, than the main game.

I'm still chugging away at FFX and hope for that to be my next big completion. Also looking at a whole bunch of other stuff that's been released in the last couple years. Not sure if I'm going to focus on the backlog list or not, but there are a lot of cool releases this year that may draw my attention away (Zelda, Starfield, Redfall, Star Wars, etc).

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

1 hour ago, DoctorEncore said:

The Witcher 3 is complete! Finally finished my first game of the year. This has been in the backlog since release (2015!) so it feels great to knock it off the list. It's an absolutely masterclass in open world design and I loved nearly every minute of it. The story and world are just fantastic and the game as a whole is a huge step up from the first two games. I still think combat is on the weak side although I do appreciate that there is some strategy to how you approach different enemy types. Overall, it's a 9/10 game for me and one of the best open world games I've ever played. I'll continue on with the DLC at a more leisurely pace. I've heard it is as good, or possibly better, than the main game.

I'm still chugging away at FFX and hope for that to be my next big completion. Also looking at a whole bunch of other stuff that's been released in the last couple years. Not sure if I'm going to focus on the backlog list or not, but there are a lot of cool releases this year that may draw my attention away (Zelda, Starfield, Redfall, Star Wars, etc).

Some day I'll get to it. And, uh, all of these...

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

10 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Some day I'll get to it. And, uh, all of these...

Man, the world building and lore are so good in the games, I'd wager the books are amazing. Honestly, if you're just looking at The Witcher from a superficial standpoint, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a generic fantasy world. It's all the amazing details that come out about the different species, monsters, history, and politics that make it feel fantastical, yet lived-in. What CDPR accomplished with the series (and particularly 3) is really a remarkable feat.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Buck Bumble.

@Jeevan gifted this to me a few years ago, so I knew I needed to get to it sooner rather than later.  And I'm glad I did.  It was a fun little shooter.  Pretty lightweight and easy, with a few annoyances that were typical of the era, but it controlled well and the action is satisfying.  Camera died when I tried to take pics, so I only have this:

[Webhead123 | 687]

FInished Grim Fandango. Pretty unique atmosphere, good performances and an interesting (if occasionally disorienting) story. Puzzle solutions do occasionally suffer from moon logic or requiring large amounts of backtracking/searching the environment. The environmental stuff is made a little more frustrating due to the 3D rendered backgrounds. Not among my favorite point-n-clicks and I don't feel a lot of incentive to replay it but it was a good time.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

13 minutes ago, Webhead123 said:

FInished Grim Fandango. Pretty unique atmosphere, good performances and an interesting (if occasionally disorienting) story. Puzzle solutions do occasionally suffer from moon logic or requiring large amounts of backtracking/searching the environment. The environmental stuff is made a little more frustrating due to the 3D rendered backgrounds. Not among my favorite point-n-clicks and I don't feel a lot of incentive to replay it but it was a good time.

I remember when I was in eighth grade and my teacher told me her son was super excited to get Grim Fandango for Christmas. I didn't really play PC games at that time so I didn't have much interest, but I found the title intriguing and it's lived rent-free on the outskirts of my brain since then. I've been knocking out some adventure games the last few years and hopefully I'll get to it one day. It seems to be on a lot of people's favorites lists.

Coincidentally, I started Return to Monkey Island the other day. It's not technically on my backlog list, but it did come out last year. It's pretty solid and feels like a continuation of the legacy of the first two games. The art style is definitely divisive and I didn't much like it at first, although it has grown on me as the game has progressed. Certain enemies and locations look great while others just look awkward. Even on "Hard" mode, it's a heck of a lot easier than old school point and click games and I'm moving along pretty quick. I haven't used any hints and I doubt I'll need any. Also, it's so, so nice to have a snappy, modern UI. Outside of the old moon logic puzzles, I think the clunky interface is what keeps me from playing more of the classics.

[Webhead123 | 687]

52 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

I remember when I was in eighth grade and my teacher told me her son was super excited to get Grim Fandango for Christmas. I didn't really play PC games at that time so I didn't have much interest, but I found the title intriguing and it's lived rent-free on the outskirts of my brain since then. I've been knocking out some adventure games the last few years and hopefully I'll get to it one day. It seems to be on a lot of people's favorites lists.

Coincidentally, I started Return to Monkey Island the other day. It's not technically on my backlog list, but it did come out last year. It's pretty solid and feels like a continuation of the legacy of the first two games. The art style is definitely divisive and I didn't much like it at first, although it has grown on me as the game has progressed. Certain enemies and locations look great while others just look awkward. Even on "Hard" mode, it's a heck of a lot easier than old school point and click games and I'm moving along pretty quick. I haven't used any hints and I doubt I'll need any. Also, it's so, so nice to have a snappy, modern UI. Outside of the old moon logic puzzles, I think the clunky interface is what keeps me from playing more of the classics.

I remember playing a demo of Grim Fandango back when it first released and I thought it was pretty neat. Obviously, the demo only takes you through the opening chapter but it was enough to intrigue me. Sadly, I never acquired the full game until the Remastered version came out. Even then, it sat in my backlog for several years but I am glad that I finally saw it through. That said, the controls, rendered backgrounds and puzzle logic haven't all aged quite so gracefully.

I also just had to play Return to Monkey Island on release and I was overall rather pleased with it. The MI series is one of my personal favorites, not just for the genre but for all games in general. The art style of Return was perfectly fine after just a few minutes of getting used to it and I do respect the game for keeping the puzzles pretty logical and not too obtuse. There was really only twice that I needed help and both times were just the result of me literally not noticing an important element in the environment (in one case, I simply didn't scroll the screen far enough to the right). As MI games go, it was a good one and my only real lament of any significance was not having Earl Boen to reprise his role as the wicked pirate himself. In retrospect to his recent passing, I think it would have made for a touching send-off.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Webhead123